My Little Pony, Calling all Bronies/Pegasisters

[Ashe]

If you are already familiar with and enjoy FiM, congrats, you're! If you read this and try a few episodes and decide you like it, good for you! If you come here to hate, well... you know the drill.

My Little Pony started as a toy line for little girls in the early 80s, and became a TV series in 1986. The original series, known as G1 (Generation 1) now, began with a pilot series of episodes in 1984 known as Rescue from Midnight Castle. It features Firefly, a daredevil pegasus pony, who has to find a way to save her pony friends from an evil centaur who's determined to turn the ponies into dragon monsters to pull his chariot of darkness. It's rather dark for an 80s girl cartoon, though if you watch it keep in mind - it IS from the 80s and it IS made as an advertisement for toys. But this is practically essential viewing material for any MLP fan. It takes place at Dream Castle.

After the pilot, there was another special in '85, Escape from Katrina. While not bad, it couldn't live up to the original, and from there the series sort of went downhill in quality. The movie came out, featuring witches and the Smooze. It explains why the ponies had to leave Dream Castle and relocate to Paradise Estate. A sequel followed, called "End of Flutter Valley," again featuring the Smooze. The following TV series doesn't have any specific main characters, simply a broad reoccurring cast of ponies. For the most part, ponies we saw and loved in the first special (Firefly, Medley, Bowtie, AppleJack, Amber) were never seen again, but a few in the second special made other appearances and the ones in the movies were pretty constant. Because there were so many ponies with so little screen time each, there's not much character development and their personalities seem vague or overlapping.

Once the original series ran its course, and the target audience was a little older, there was another series - My Little Pony Tales. It's now 1992, and some older members might have seen this (and the original) on Disney channel. I don't blame you for not liking/remembering this series, as it features somewhat anthro-pony characters living in houses (though parent ponies were neat, rather than simply "Here's a baby clone of the mommy pony. Oh, what's that? The only males around are the Big Brother ponies and they're not the dads??" that they had in Dream Valley), dressing up, going to school, talking to boys...

Now skip ahead to 1997, and G2 comes out. You might remember these at McDonalds, when they had a series of 3 ponies. I remember being SO EXCITED to get pony toys, only to find out I didn't know -any- of these ponies. Not only that, but they were long legged, anorexic, long necked things, not the cute chubby ponies I knew and loved. To my knowledge, there has not been a cartoon series featuring G2. Commercials with animation, maybe, but no cartoon series. They were more popular in Europe - until G3. I do not associate with this generation, not even to cast scorn.

In 2003, MLP got another reboot. G3 ponies were cutsier, brightly colored, and overwhelming in number. Starting out as just earth pony toys, they later introduced the first pegasus pony, Star Catcher, in 04 with Dancing in the Clouds. The quality is cheesy, the voices horrible, characterization nonexistant. But...I guess that's what kids like? I was thrilled for more MLP for nostalgia reasons, and Star Catcher is pretty amazing... But I believe this generation murdered MLP in the eyes of the public. Starting out super girly and lame, it only got worse... (Fans of RAINBOW DASH and PINKIE PIE - please don't watch anything in this gen)

*It is important to mention that there were a few "Art" ponies sold at comic cons that are kind of neat not to mention this and this, and for collectors/customizers, G3 pony toys were popular.

In 09, G3 got a mini revamp, introducing the "Core 7". They took away interesting ponies like Star Catcher or Rarity, took away their "icon" pony, Minty, and made the rest of the series about: Cheerilee, Toola-Roola, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Starsong. They got smaller with bigger heads. Original Starsong -> Newer Starsong. That was okay. Then they came out with little tiny one inch high ponies with changeable hair. Super chibi/SuperDeformed, and that spawned this: (Caution: not for the faint of heart).

So it's no wonder people write off MLP, say it's just for girls, make fun of people who watch Friendship is Magic (which began airing October of '10, second season scheduled for Sept 17th, 2011!), and refuse to watch it themselves, even though a good chunk, if not the majority, of the fans of G4 are male fans anywhere from late teens and into mid 30s. MLP's been through a lot. The toys are cute, even if Princess Celestia, who's white in the series and every single piece of merch BESIDES the actual toys, is turned Pink...

Why's the G4 cartoon so great, though? (There is really too much awesome for me to discuss here in a single post - just look at the amount of content the fans have drowned the internet in if you don't believe me! - so I'm going to point out a few key points, feel free to add your favorite memes)

It has/had Lauren Faust, who's known for her work in both Power Puff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. She grew up liking G1's toys but never thought the cartoon lived up to the potential, so she took the bull by the horns, so to speak, and turned it into something worthy of a cult following so strong, it even shook up 4chan. X G4 brings consistent characters with distinct personalities and adorable voices with catchy tunes. You might recognize some from Past Generations. A few of the copyrights ran out, leaving AppleJack and Spike to be the only characters that remained same as the original.

SN: I also think Rarity was modeled after Glory as well.
Spike - G1, G3, G4
More comparisons: X, X
Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell are from G3.
And so much more! The parasprites? Similar to G3's Breezies. The Pilot episode being different than the rest of the series - just like the original specials from G1. Twilight Sparkle spends the series building up her unicorn magic and can "wink" in an out on occasion, when she needs to - just like the G1 Twilight from Midnight Castle.
- Core 7 ~ Mane 6

Twilight also turns into Rapidash.

One of the most fun things about G4 is the backgroud ponies. Derpy, Dinky, Dr. Whooves (Aka My Little Timelord), Lyra, Bon Bon, DJ Pon3.... Not to mention the fact that the fans, "Bronies" in particular as well as the community that named DJ Pon3, got recognition publicly - Equestria Girls, which is an ad actually shown on TV.

If you haven't seen friendship is Magic yet, either because you don't get the Hub or don't know how to access Youtube, click here!






TL;DR
Summary: X
G1 - Rescue from Midnight Castle.
G2 - Doesn't exist. Really.
G3 - Don't bother, it'll scare you away from G4
G4 - here, Applied IRL
Season 2 starts this Saturday on the Hub! (Formerly Discovery Kids)

(And don't forget: X)

Do -you- like FiM?





Disclaimer: This thread is not to force you to like this show, it is for fans to come and discuss without clogging up the Cbox. I figure keeping it to one thread and occasional smaller discussions in the Box is better than the mini take overs it's caused in the past. While everyone's entitled to their own opinions, it's really not friendship-like to come here to bash <3

This post has been edited by Ashe on Sep 14 2011, 11:58 PM

[Akina Bellen]

*waves hands* I'm a total MLP fan <3 I thought it was stupid but I watched the first episode of FiM because I had nothing better to do and I was feeling nostalgic... And then... I was watching the second episode... I have no clue what happened :D
Dr.Whooves is epic. I love him <3

[Avrielle]

I was tricked into watching a later episode... then watched the diamond dogs ep since i like dogs... then decided i might as well watch the whole season. And fell in love! :D

I <3 MLP:FiM
Eventually I'll go watch the G1... maybe. :|

[Ashe]

Link to Episode 1 of Season 2 for those that missed it this morning, and missed it in the Cbox.

[Kheisa]

I... I'm actually a huge fan of gen 2 ponies. They're the only figures I have, and so they're the closest to my heart of all of the generations (Clever Clover and Dainty Dove are still my favorite ponies). Never was a fan of the giant heads and pointy noses. I still have pretty much zero appreciation for gen 3 (as it's what ruined ponies for me with the ridiculous glitzy eyes), but gen 1 comes second.

As far as FiM is concerned, I'm not a brony by a long shot. I'm not a huge fan of the show, although that may be negligence on my part as opposed to anything else, as I've only watched the first six or so episodes. I love the world and I love the character designs, but the show itself is kind of meh to me.

THAT SAID, since I DO love the character design, I threw together a pony self using this pony generator on deviantArt. :3



She doesn't have a name or a cutie mark or anything, but she reminds me of raspberries and cream and makes me smile.

This post has been edited by Kheisa on Sep 28 2011, 12:29 PM

[Kitzu]

Oooh, that pony reminds me of the spumoni gelato I get at the beach nearby... It looks yummy. And I'm in the same boat as Khe there, love the designs but not crazy about the show. :3

[Ashe]

Please tell me someone else watched the amazing Halloween episode, "Luna Eclipsed"???

I have a feeling Pipsqueak would go over well here. And there's Big Mac's costume, Derpy's appearance, and oh yeah - PRINCESS FREAKIN LUNA FINALLY! :D

And Fluttershy does not like Nightmare Night. And Pinkie's a chicken.

[Silver]

[Mika]

I love ponies so much guys. So. Much.

I was a huge fan of G1, and would love to watch it again. Thank you SO MUCH for the links!! Now, anyone remember which G1 episode/special involved a pegasus crashing into a well?? That's the one I would ALWAYS watch.

[Ashe]

There's the Pilot episode, Rescue at/from Midnight Castle, which I think I linked to, where Firefly (pink with blue mane/tail and lightning bolt cutie mark) where she crashes into Megan's well, but there's also the movie where the flutterpony Honeysuckle's stuck in a well. I assume you'd mean the first one tho. x3

That pumpkin = EPIC!!

This post has been edited by Ashe on Oct 27 2011, 12:23 AM

[Aleksander]

So I went to an MLP random generator and got this:

"This leanly-built colt is a unicorn who is incoherent. His coat is gray with blue spots. He has a mane that is white and gray, and it reminds you of an elaborate sculpture. His droopy eyes are gray. His mark is a brick."

... i ain't even a brony but excuse me while I draw the crap out of my pony.

EDIT::

KYLEPONY

derp. His name is Volare. derp. He's a sculptor, hence the brick cutie mark I didn't put on.

[Ashe]

....I so never saw your edit here, but he is an adorable pony!! <3


Also, if you want friendship that's magic, there's a pony for that~

[Silver]

There you go. You've done it. You've converted me. Happy now?

(I call her Silver Rainclouds, but that may change. It's not perfect, but for working with a mouse from scratch, I'm proud.)

[Ashe]

Welcome the the herd, Silv. ;D Silver Rainclouds too. She's pretty. <3

[Kitzu]

THIS is the pic I'm using for my Christmas card. XD A lot of its recipients this year are bronies, so why not? Those two ponies are unnamed courier (contemplating a name with the word Express in it) pulling the sleigh and... Peppermint Swirl in the back

Credit to Tallin for the lineart. <3